AUGUST 2004 NEWS ARCHIVE

News articles from August 2004 are archived below, latest nearest the top of the page. Click "back" on your web browser to return to previous page.

28th August 2004

PARIS SCORCHER!

The threat of surrounding rain showers and incredible heat and humidity did nothing to deter the riders or fans from making a huge show at Paris last night. A full 26 heat program was filled with some of the most exciting racing witnessed all year. Paris Speedway truly was a steaming cauldron of heated action!

With only a couple of small tricky spots on a generally well groomed track, it made for good racing with multiple lines providing plenty of traction and rider options.

The Division 1 main event was won by none other than Kyle Legault. A scary looking final saw him riding the boards coming out of turn two on three laps straight. Everyone was holding their breath in what turned out to be a masterly display of bike control whilst pushing at maximum speed.

A worthy mention goes out to Gary "The Hit Man" Hesmer, who's second place finish in last night's Division 1 main was easily his best display at Paris for perhaps a few years. Gary, still recovering from wrist and forearm surgery is back with a bang!

Another great race saw a fantastic four lap battle between Aaron Hesmer and Joe Heye. Joe rode brilliantly, riding the outside line for the entire heat, eventually creeping ahead and beating Aaron to the chequeared flag. It was sensational stuff.

On a personal note, I was happier with my riding this week than I have been all season. I feel I'm ready now to push to the next level and increase my speed still further. I'm feeling comfortable and in good control of the bike riding the speed I am now (something I obviously wasn't earlier in the season). But being comfortable means you're not trying hard enough so I'm looking forward to some post season Sunday practice sessions to see what we can do.

Division 2 provided arguably the most competitive and best racing all night. These guys are really flying now with any number of them worthy of promotion to the Division 1 ranks for next season.

Aaron DeVeau came out the eventual worthy winner of the main event. One has to wonder if dad Larry fed him any of his exceptional chilli before the racing last night to give him that extra boost? Anyone that sampled Larry's wonderful concoction after the racing will know what I mean. Thanks Larry!

Also worth a mention in Division 2 were Phil Mosquera from Michigan, the ever present Shawn Morrison and the welcome track return of crowd favourite "Big" John Perry. All rode with gritty determination and tremendous heart.

Big John has found himself a lovely old Weslake machine (personally one of my favourite speedway machines of all time). It's just a shame he was not present for the full season. I'm sure next year will be different.

Division 3 saw "Team Small Racing's" Michael Small run out a winner by a good margin in his first heat and it looked like he was on for another great night. However, maybe a little over-confidence caught up with him in his second as he crashed whilst trying to pass the very quick Corrine Franic around the outside. Starting from the 15 yard penalty line in the restart saw him once again push too hard to try to make up the defecit and he crashed for a second time in turn 1 on the second lap.

Enough was enough and he decided to sit out the heat after his second "get-off". What impressed me however, was his ability to regroup, settle down and start to once again ride with his head. He went out to win both his third and fourth heat races, and the Division 3 main event by comfortable margins. Impressive stuff (even if I may be a little biased)!

Also great to see in Division 3, the return for the second week straight of veteran Paul Martin. This time, his son Michael was with him and competing for the first time this season. Track rustiness was obvious, but it was great to have one of our other "Father and Son" teams once again in action. We hope to see both Paul and Michael at next Saturday's Division 2 and 3 championship meeting.

On that note, a reminder that the D2 and D3 championship takes place at 4:00pm on the Saturday and the Division 1 championship is at 6:00 pm on the Sunday. All this, part of the outstanding Paris fair. Bring all the family and friends and enjoy a sensational Labour Day weekend!

See you all next weekend for the last racing action of the Paris Speedway 2004 season!

As usual, full race report and results are available on the CSRA WEBSITE.

Division 3's Paul Martin

21st August 2004

PARIS DEFIES THE RAIN!

With rain in the air pretty much all day before the Friday night Paris Speedway racing this week, it was touch and go if we would have a repeat of last weeks rain-out.

Fortunatley, Dave Havill had spent nearly all day Thursday working on the track, and this proved to be the saving factor, allowing the racing surface to be able to take some rain without ill effect. In fact the track was excellent and a great nights speedway racing was witnessed by all.

Division 1 honours went to Kyle Legault once again. He really is a class act and rumour has it he is now being approached by teams in the tough UK Premier League. He surely has a very bright future in the professional sport.

The ultra competitive Division 2 was won this week by Shawn Morrison. In this division it's now anybody's guess who will come away with the main event victory. The absence of Phil Mosquera from Michigan gave our Canadian riders a little easier job this week. I suspect Phil and his brother Bob were put off their three hour drive by the suspect weather.

Division 3 was won by none other than our own "Team Small Racing" Michael Small. Once again riding the 500cc GM powered machine, he went unbeaten on the night to romp to a five race maximum.

Michael continues to improve. The main thing we have been working on is his smoothness. I have no more advice to offer him as he is probably already better technically than myself, but good advice from experienced riders such as Chris and Gary Hesmer has helped him immensely over the past weeks. In fact Gary "The Hit Man" Hesmer spent some time working with Michael at last Tuesday night's practice, and it has really paid off. Michael listens intently to this experience and really tries to put into practice what he has been told. It really is much appreciated. So this week especially, thanks Gary!

Once again, many thanks to everyone involved in putting on the show and to the fans for coming out and supporting their favourite riders.

See you all next Friday night for the last regular Friday night's racing of the season at Paris Speedway!

14th August 2004

PARIS RAINED OUT

Friday the 13th says it all. We were desperately unlucky to suffer our second rain out of the season last night at Paris Speedway.

The rain had been falling all morning but had stopped at about noon hour. Dave Havill toiled almost all afternoon on the track and in fact had it in excellent shape by 7:00pm. Full credit and many thanks to Dave for performing an absolute miracle.

However, even a miracle could not overcome the Friday the 13th spell as just ten minutes before the start of racing the black clouds once again moved in and very heavy rain started to fall. The air of dissapointment in the pits was clearly evident, especially for those riders and pit crew who travel long distances.

The fans who braved the weather and took the gamble to come to the track should be recognized too. Many thanks for showing and waiting around for the final decision to cancel the meeting. I know many of you got soaked! I hope you are able to use your rain checks over the next two weeks.

In an uncanny twist of fate, I was perhaps the only person who took some twisted satisfaction in the meeting being cancelled. My bike would strangely not fire once unloaded at the track (it had been running perfectly the night before at home). After some hurried investigation I discovered the wires coming out of the back of the ignition stator had arced out against the engine casing and had burned right through!

This was terminal and meant that I had no bike for the meeting. We hurriedly made plans for Michael to return to his 250 for the night which would also have been unsatisfactory. I must thank Tom Marriott who sportingly offered to share his Weslake with me for the night, an offer which I felt I had to decline. Thanks though Tom. He has since offered me a bike for the rest of the season for both practice and racenights. Most generous, and a true indication of the camerardery and friendship in the speedway circles.

Well, fortunately I have been able to repair the ignition system. I had to literally dig the epoxy resin out of the stator, re-solder two wires directly onto the generator coil and re-flood it with epoxy once complete. I was very lucky the coil had not burned out as a result of the short circuit. This equates to about a $400.00 save!

Anyway, I'm signing off. I hope to be at the track for practice Tuesday night with Michael. If I don't see you then, we'll see you all next Friday night for more speedway action!

11th August 2004

JUNIOR SPEEDWAY BIKE FOR SALE

Last night's Tuesday practice at the Paris track confirmed without a doubt that Michael has now outridden his 250cc speedway bike as I'm sure anyone that was there will testify.

His lap times on my 500 GM were astonishing last night and he's riding really smooth. A big thanks to Chris Hesmer who made the trip to the track last night to give Michael (and I) some helpful pointers.

All this means that it is now time to start the search for a good laydown bike for Michael and this means that his 250 is now up for sale. The price we are asking is $1,500 CDN but we are open to some negtiation. The bike will be exactly as shown in the picture below but it will be without a front handlebar cover.

We'll have the bike on display this Friday evening at Paris but for full details and more pics go to"MICHAEL'S BIKE PAGE".

Obviously, we would like the bike to be used by another aspiring young rider wishing to enter into Speedway as the future of our sport here in Canada relies on kids like Michael becoming involved as riders.

Feel free to contact me by either E-Mail or telephone at (519) 485-0925 if you are interested or just want further info.

See you all Friday night!

7th August 2004

PARIS 6th AUGUST UPDATE

An excellent cool summers evening with no threat of rain set the stage for an superb night of racing at Paris yesterday. Track manager Dave Havill was amazed on his arrival early in the evening to find puddles on the inside of the turns. Where they came from no-one knows as rain had not apparrently fallen for days before. But hard prep work from Dave had the track in excellent shape by the 8:00 pm start time. Thanks Dave!

With such a good weather forecast, many riders had made the decision to make the trip to Paris and there was an excellent rider turnout. Fans too, came in good numbers to really set alight the atmosphere and the evening was electric right off the bat.

One such rider on his now "annual" tour of Canada was Bobby Richards, all the way from Colorado! A veteran of 20 odd years in the sport, he remains as enthusiastic as ever and it was a pleasure to be pitted next to him. His enthusiasm and happiness just to be somewhere he could ride speedway was infectious and all around him had a refreshingly good time. His 20 hour drive will enable him to take in not only last night's Paris action, but the Half Mile event at Belleville today also. He plans on staying with Rob and Norma Dixon for a few days before camping out at Paris to once again ride next Friday night before his return. Let's hope the weather holds for him. Last year he came all this way with the same plans and every event was cancelled due to rain!

Whilst mentioning Norma Dixon, many thanks to her for doing an excellent job as track announcer last night, filling in for our usual commentator Chris Howes who was unusually unavailable. A good job too from Andy Harris with his roving mike, interviewing riders in the pits during the interval.

Now onto the racing, and in Division 1 can you take a guess? Yes, Kyle Legault once again showed a clean pair of heels to his opposition. Even his toughest adversaries must now be close to considering him just about unbeatable barring extraordinary circumstances. Division 2, and yes I do know who won it this week, was taken by Aaron DeVeau. The "Ace" is fast becoming Division 1 material and his opponents are finding him increasingly difficult to overcome.

At this point I must say a big thankyou to "Barbara" from Oakville. A fan of Paris racing for the past four years and originally from Poland, Barbara e-mailed me after my dismal posting on the website last week to let me know that Chris Houtby was indeed last Friday's Division 2 main event winner. As with many fans who have experienced European pro racing, it is usual over there to keep your programs up to date race by race, writing in rider positions, points and any incidents affecting the final outcome of the heat. Well worth doing if you really want to know what is going on by the end of the meeting. So sorry Chris for overlooking your excellent performance last week and thank you Barbara for keeping such comprehensive race night records. It was a pleasure to have finally met you in the pits after racing last night. Do come down to say hello to the riders every week!

Division 3 belonged entirely to "Team Small Racing" as Michael stormed to victory in all of his heats barring his first one where he layed the bike down after coming in too hot under Doug Beaumont. Making his victory even sweeter was the fact this was his first meeting riding my 500cc GM.

After a successful first practice session on the full sized bike last Tuesday night, we made the decision to allow him to try the 500 in last night's race meeting. Although awkward at times bike sharing, it payed off as he showed smoothness and composure throughout the night as well as a good turn of speed. In one heat, Michael admits that he came in too hard under "Tiger" Tom Marriott and took Tom's wheels from underneath him. Michael was rightly put back on the 15 yard penalty line by CMA referee Kevin Robillard for the restart, but still managed to take all three riders for the heat win. Sorry Tom, for the scratch on your helmet!

My own performance was very pleasing last night although I was last placed in Division 1 again. The night was made more difficult for me as we had made a concious move to run a very worn rear tire for Michael's benefit. It was very slick and at times the bike nearly came right round on me but I had a ball and I feel as if things are most definitely getting quicker.

I've vowed to give Bobby Richards a good run for his money next Friday! Well, we have to make that 20 hour drive worth his while now don't we?

As usual, full race report and results are available on the CSRA WEBSITE.

1st August 2004

PARIS 30th JULY NEWS

Well, the bike did smoke as predicted, but the rider didn't. However, before I moan too much about my own performance, a brief account of Friday nights action.

The skies looked menacing before the meeting and the threat of rain was never far away. This did not however deter too many riders from making the trip and there was a respectable rider turnout. Although late, the fans eventually came in reasonable numbers too, although only fifteen minutes before the meeting began it looked really thin up in the spectator area. We thank all those who did make the effort, and in turn they were rewarded with some great racing.

Kyle Legault once again roared to victory in the division one final. This week, although he admitted he had struggled with the bike set-up through the qualifying heats, by the time the final came around he had it perfect. After changing gearing, tire pressures and even carburettor jetting to get the most out of the tricky Paris surface, he was easily the quickest I have ever seen him in the final. His margin of victory at the end of the race was huge, just showing that his understanding of professional speedway is now good enough to make everything work for him on the night. Very impressive.

Now for a less impressive part. I'm afraid I don't know who won the division two main event! Once again, concentrating on my own racing and preparing for the division one consolation final whilst the D2 main was being run has left me clueless. Sorry! I've even waited as late as I dare to see if I could pick up the results from the CSRA website but they're not there yet either.

One point of interest regarding one of the D2 stars though was Aaron "The Ace" DeVeau's outing in a Division 1 heat race. He has been wanting to test his pace against the D1 riders for a couple of weeks now and Friday saw the perfect opportunity when the race program had a three man D1 heat scheduled just after the intermission. With everyones consent he was allowed to run in this heat and although finishing last he certainly did not look out of place. A certain D1 candidate for next season and at last maybe some competition for me!

Division 3 saw the return to form of Corrine Franic who took the main event win. She has been struggling with an arm injury over the past couple of weeks but it seems she has now been able to put this behind her and is going well again. Veteran Graham Wale deserves a mention too as he rode smoothly and with increasing pace all night to take his place also in the main event.

Missing from this weeks main event for the first time since he started riding was Michael Small. He didn't seem fired up before the event and struggled early on with a horrible looking high side crash after clipping Doug Beumont's rear wheel in a turn two incident. It wasn't until his last heat race of the night that he started to relax and enjoy himself where his usual smoothness started to return and although still trailing in last, he gave me good feedback after this race.

It may be that the lack of power on his little 250cc machine is starting to become an issue for him. Although he says he's not outriding the bike completely yet, it simply does not have the power to blast through the "sticky" spots in the turns and this in turn is causing him to hook up more often than we want. He is close to having an outing in practice on my GM. This may happen this Tuesday night at Paris.

My own performance was erratic, but by the end of the night I was at least riding smoothly. I enjoyed the night and will continue in my endeavours to get quicker. The first season in Division 1 is very tough and sometimes demoralising, but with such a short season, my wife Helen continues to remind me to enjoy every week. After all, there's only five weeks worth of meetings scheduled at Paris remaining in 2004.

I'm waiting for the full race report and results to be posted in the very near future on the CSRA WEBSITE.

At least that'll tell us who won Division 2!

See you all next week!